Elena Popkey scored a career-high 28 points in OU women's loss

ROCHESTER - Elena Popkey scored a career-high 28 points but it was not enough as the Oakland women's basketball team (11-14, 6-6 HL) lost its final game of a four-game homestand against Wright State (19-7, 8-3 HL), 92-78, Tuesday night inside the Athletics Center O'rena. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Golden Grizzlies.

"This is a game in the first half where we couldn't make shots," said head coach Jeff Tungate. "When we started missing shots, it got to our defense. We stopped guarding people and they were able to make easy baskets. We did a poor job both offensively and defensively. Give them credit, there is a reason they are second in the league. They had two players really step up for them tonight. It's a tough loss but we have to put it behind us and get ready for Valpo on Saturday."

Popkey recorded her career-high 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting and was one rebound shy of her third double-double of the season. Victoria Lipscomb added 17 points with four 3-pointers and Bethany Watterworth added 15 points. Olivia Nash grabbed 11 rebounds for her second-straight game with double-digit rebounds.
The Golden Grizzlies trailed 40-39 at half despite being down by as many as 13 points. OU closed the half on a 14-4 run as Popkey scored 10 points highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers. She would finish with 17 in the half as Lipscomb added nine points.

OU would grab an early second half lead but WSU would go on a 16-5 run led by Kim Demmings with seven points to go up 61-51 with 12:39 remaining. The Raiders would not give up the lead the rest of the game outscoring the Golden Grizzlies 52-39 in the half and shooting 66.7 percent (22-33) from the floor.

Advertisement

Wright State was led by Demmings with a season-high 36 points, the most OU has given up to a single player this season, and KC Elkins added a season-best 27 points. WSU forced 23 OU turnovers and held a 30-12 advantage on points off turnovers. The Raiders also outscored the Golden Grizzlies 50-30 in the paint and 14-0 in fastbreak points.

Oakland will hit the road this weekend as they face Valparaiso on Saturday starting at 8:05 p.m. ET inside the Athletics-Recreation Center.